"WHO IS THAT LITTLE FELLOW?""I DON'T LIKE HIM!"
"Every child's face is beautiful to at least one pair of eyes. The features may not be symmetrical, the eyes may be small and dull, but the charm of childhood does not lie entirely in facial beauty. It is the coy smile and the quaint expression that a parent prizes most. And it is these characteristics that a photographer should aim to catch. Mothers often make the mistake of rehearsing the sitting at home. It is even better not to mention the matter in the presence of the little one; it is usually much more satisfactory if the visit is a surprise one as far as the child is concerned. It is also unwise to dress the young sitter in unaccustomed clothes or to warn it to be good. For general work, my rule about posing children is, 'Never pose them at all.'"
"QUEEN OF HEARTS."
Mr. Byrne's studios are veritable toy-shops, containing everything from a jumping frog to a model of an Atlantic liner. Indeed, Mr. Byrne has given a big firm of toy-dealers a standing order to send anything new that comes in the market. Antiquarians will learn with a pang that the dear old Noah's Ark is going the way of all flesh. British children will have none of it. They refuse to look pleasant for less than a little bicycle with rubber tyres, or a miniature motor-car with real boilers—at least when they go to be photographed.
So much, then, for how Mr. Byrne's "happy" results are produced; what about his "unhappy" ones? Both are well represented here. Take the first pictures, Sunshine and Shadow. What caused the inquisitive little fellow in the first to find the world all dark and so little of interest in life a few seconds later?
"RATHER SLOW, THIS!"
It must have been something wholly unexpected, for it effected much the same change in his companion's countenance. Was it a pin-point gently insinuated between the shoulder blades, or a cold sponge dexterously applied to the little spine?